Archive for February 17th, 2009

like, say here, click here for a link to the actual legislation (for the specific example of Republican liars, go to page 751 of the conference bill, where you will note that 330 million is allocated to the Department of Energy for “Science.”)

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I was only able to watch part of his speech at the signing of the stimulus bill, but it was clear this is a home run. Three good speakers, Gov. Ritter, VP Biden, and the head of a solar panel installer, Namaste, preceded him (the loudest applause, oddly, went to Denver’s Mayor Hicklooper). But as Obama laid down just what has been accomplished with the stimulus bill, it was very clear. This is exactly what America wanted, even if it is too small and coming late in the day.

Whatever the shortcomings of the legislation, we have a government again.

The SEC’s complaint, filed in federal court in Dallas, alleges that acting through a network of SGC financial advisers, SIB has sold approximately $8 billion of so-called “certificates of deposit” to investors by promising improbable and unsubstantiated high interest rates. These rates were supposedly earned through SIB’s unique investment strategy, which purportedly allowed the bank to achieve double-digit returns on its investments for the past 15 years.

It has to be said and said again: there is a tradeoff between high returns and low risk. The only way to systematically get high returns with low risk is through inside information. That generally involves breaking the law, though certain individuals like Warren Buffett manage to skirt the law by mingling business activity with investment. If you’re not as rich as Warren Buffett, best to stay with investments that don’t promise the moon.

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— Chris Steller of the Minnesota Independent notices that the St. Paul Pioneer Press, which has backed honoring the final results of the recount, has now — hard on the heels of a court decision that has dealt a mortal blow to Norm Coleman’s hopes of retaking his old Senate seat — suddenly decided that the recount was a wash and that there needs to be a do-over instead. Could this have anything to do with the PiPress’ endorsing Coleman during the campaign last year, Steller wonders?

There was an NPR program a few years ago that contrasted Trump with Richard Branson, back when they both had reality-TV programs on the air. Trump’s “The Apprentice” was a ratings hit, yet nobody watched Branson’s “The Rebel Billionaire” — people much preferred watching a piss-poor manager reward incompetent backstabbing suckups to seeing a genuine success story challenging other people to get outside their comfort zones. And really, as go TV audiences, so go the alleged “smartest guys in the room”. They all take after the Trump model and not the Branson model, even though Branson is by far the better businessman and manager of the two.